Earth are an American drone band based in Seattle, Washington, formed in 1990 by Dylan Carlson, Slim Moon, and Greg Babior; the band took its name from the first incarnation of Black Sabbath. Although they have played various styles of music, they are best known as pioneers of a minimalistic, long and repetitive form of heavy music known as drone. To a lesser extent their sound is referred to as doom metal. Earth, however, have little to do with metal in their current sound. Their early albums could be seen as a variation of the experimental doom-influenced metal of The Melvins.

Dylan Carlson has been the driving force within the band and has remained the core of an ever-changing line-up. Outside of the underground music world, Carlson is perhaps best known for having been the best friend of grunge music icon Kurt Cobain who purchased the gun that Cobain later used to commit suicide. [1] After Earth had moved to Seattle, Cobain sang lead vocals in the song “Divine and Bright”, from a demo included on the re-release of the live album Sunn Amps and Smashed Guitars.

The drone doom band Sunn O))), who formed as a tribute to Earth, were named after Earth’s (and thence Sunn O)))’s) amplifiers of choice, Sunn. (Sunn O))) also have a song entitled “Dylan Carlson” on their demo). The drone doom supergroup Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine are named after the second song from Earth’s first full-length album, Earth 2: Special Low-Frequency Version.